Women have long enjoyed a special place and played an important role in Buddhism. Buddhism does not consider women as being inferior to men, while accepting biological and physical differences between two sexes, does consider men and women to be equally useful to society.

The Buddha emphasizes fruitful role women can play and should play as in being a wife and a good mother in making family life a success.

In a family, both husband and wife are expected to share equal responsibilities and to discharge their duties with equal dedication. The husband is admonished to consider wife a friend, a companion, and a partner.

In Buddhism, women who embodied compassionate, gentle, loving kindness have often been associated with Bodhisattvas such as Chenrenzig, ( popularly known as Goddess of Mercy, or Kuan Yin or Avalokiteshvara ) and various Taras in Tibetan Buddhism.

According to sutras, Buddha Shakyamuni used to refer to Chenrenzig as a man. In history, Chenrenzig was regarded as a male before Tang Dynasty. During Tang Dynasty, it was said that Chenrenzig was a princess called Miau Shan. As Chenrenzig in a feminine form is more intimate, more and more people affirmed this Bodhisattva to be female.

I made bed quickly and threw my hands toward ceiling as I walked to bedroom door.

"Lord," I declared, "I just want to thank you that I'm a child of most high God this morning! This is day Lord has made, and I will rejoice and be glad..."

SPLASH!

In mid-sentence, I had thrown open door to my bedroom and stepped into a pool of water covering my living room carpet.

"..and be glad in it, Lord," I finished, shaking my head.

The hot water heater had apparently gone out, and running water had been covering an entire bedroom and living room...all night long.

I would have plenty of time to rejoice in Lord as I vacuumed water and tore out carpet.

"I will bless Lord at all times," wrote David in 34th Psalm. "His praise shall continually be in my mouth."

I wonder if he wrote those words while fixing a flat tire on freeway, or picking up a treat dog left on floor in kitchen? David was human, wasn't he? Could he really expect us to maintain an attitude of praise at all times?

I wrestled with God on this one. I found myself fighting to stay "happy."

"Okay, Lord," I reasoned, "In Romans 8:28, you said that in all things you work for good of those who love you and are called according to your purpose. I'm going to give you opportunity to prove yourself this morning.

"Please show me how this inconvenient, uncomfortable, potentially expensive situation is going to work out for my good."

Shortly thereafter, there was a knock on my door.

It was Jose, water heater repair guy.

"It looks like you're having a rough day," he said, taking a look at water heater connections.

"Yes," I said, trying to remain positive. "But, it's just a little water. It could be worse."

"Oh yeah, it could," Jose replied, walking out to his truck to retrieve tools.

His tone gave me impression that he had seen much, much worse. When he returned, I asked him what he meant.